This 12 months, the primary 12 months of our present three-year strategic plan, was a 12 months of innovation for WWB. Central to this technique is a cycle of market analysis, piloting new merchandise after which studying from the pilots to scale these merchandise to new markets.All through this report, we are going to present examples of labor in every of those phases.
The improvements being led by Girls’s World Banking are enabling monetary establishments to reevaluate the way in which they distribute monetary merchandise, how they assess threat and the methods during which they’ll present significant monetary training to their purchasers. For instance, WWB has labored intently with 4 community members to assist them adapt essentially the most basic facets of their establishments’ processes, techniques and tradition in an effort to provide financial savings merchandise [see page 22]. This 12 months we additionally created revolutionary strategies for product supply utilizing applied sciences reminiscent of cellular banking and the mixing of economic training [see page 20].Innovation requires sturdy management and a transparent imaginative and prescient.
By way of the Middle for Microfinance Management we educated greater than 300 leaders within the challenges of balancing wonderful monetary efficiency with a sustained concentrate on their social mission. The Middle workers’s in-field engagements additionally convincingly demonstrated that variety of management is crucial for institutional success and sustainability. Findings from our variety work will be discovered on web page 33.
Within the 12 months of “Occupy Wall Road” and amidst rising mistrust of mainstream monetary establishments, the WWB community of microfinance establishments and banks is proud to have strengthened its dedication to enhancing the lives of low-income girls. And not using a basic understanding of our purchasers and a dedication to tailoring our services and products to satisfy their wants, we aren’t fulfilling the promise of microfinance. On the similar time, monetary establishments should be capable to provide these merchandise on a sustainable foundation if they’re to proceed after the pilot part is accomplished.
Entry to credit score generally is a essential issue within the lifetime of low-income households in all places, however we consider that offering girls and their households a larger measure of economic safety by means of financial savings, insurance coverage and pension merchandise is the essential subsequent step that monetary establishments serving these purchasers should take. WWB stands able to construct on the successes of the previous 12 months by serving as a associate in making certain monetary stability to tens of millions extra.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian
President and CEO, Girls’s World BankingDownload the English VersionDownload the Spanish Model
